


Ruination

by MidtownToDowntown



Category: Bandom, Gerard Way - Fandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Artist Gerard Way, Band Fic, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, MCR, My Chemical Romance References, Romance, Students, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:42:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidtownToDowntown/pseuds/MidtownToDowntown
Summary: Walking into the middle of the room, she turned a full 360 slowly, taking in the bare walls and bookshelves. There wasn't a trace of him left.More importantly, there wasn't a trace of her left either.The tears slowly began to well up in her eyes, blurring her vision as her chest tightened; how could he do this to her? She had loved him so wholly, so unconditionally, and she didn't know which hurt quite the most; the fact that he obviously didn't love her in the way she loved him, or that she was foolish enough to believe that he did in the first place.
Kudos: 1





	1. The Great Gatsby

The traffic was a dull hum in her ears, the early autumn wind causing her to hug her cardigan closer to her body. One thought was swirling around her head as she took in the sight of the city.

_I hate this place._

Stevie had been in New York for two days, having moved from Texas to start university. New York was louder than any place she’d ever been to, the people ruder, the streets dirtier. Her friend had stayed in New York with her family one New Year’s Eve, and she told her it was so cold when you’d step outside it felt like you couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t help but feel that she’d made a huge mistake by moving here. Maybe her mother was right, maybe she should have stayed humble, maybe she should have stayed in Fort Worth, applied to college in the city.  
In a city so big, she had never felt so lonely.

She kept walking until she saw a small bar on the corner of the street, dark and quiet on the inside. There were only a handful of men sitting up at the bar, all eyes focused on the football on the television screen. Stevie approached the bar and waited for the barman to notice her, all the while pawing at her fake I.D. in her cardigan pocket. All she wanted was one beer, to sit somewhere quiet and read a book. Pretend she wasn’t here, pretend she was back home in Texas.  
The barman’s eyes met hers and he arched an eyebrow at her.

“Coors light, please?”

She pulled her hand out of her pocket when he didn’t even look twice at her, he went straight to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer.

“Do you want a glass with ice?”

“Please,” she nodded, surprised that she wasn’t asked for I.D.

She wasn’t complaining, though. She paid and took her glass to the far corner of the bar, wanting to be invisible. Pulling her book out of her handbag, she settled into her seat and let herself get lost in the story. She managed to block out the noise of the traffic, the murmurs coming from the T.V and the swearing of the men watching the game in frustration. After a while though, she could feel someone’s eyes hot on hers. She glanced up from her book, slowly scanning the bar until her eyes locked on his. He quickly averted his gaze when she caught him staring, and she looked back down at her book, pretending to read again.

Really, she was just thinking that she should finish her beer and skedaddle.

She felt his gaze fall on her once more, and this time when she made eye contact with him, he picked up his beer and walked over to her.

“The Great Gatsby,” he stated, pointing the tip of his beer bottle at her book.

Stevie looked at the cover, almost as if she had forgotten what it was she was reading.

“Yeah,” she replied stupidly, not knowing what else to say to him.

“Let me guess, Leonardo DiCaprio made you fall in love with Gatsby, and you just _had_ to go out and read it?”

“You’re pretty cocky,” she arched a dark eyebrow at him, placing her book mark on her page and closing the book over.

She opened up the first page of the book and tapped at the stamp in the corner.

**Property of Tarleton State University**   
**1980**

“My father loved it so much he never returned it back to the university. I’ve been reading this story since I was young.”

He threw his hands up in the universal sign of surrender before sitting down opposite her.

“I never got the hype about it. I appreciate it’s a classic, but there are better novels out there.”

All Stevie could do was shrug. It was one of her favourite books, but she wasn’t willing to start debating it with a complete stranger.

“I’m Gerard, by the way,” he extended his hand.

Stevie didn’t make to move for a few seconds, before she weakly shook his hand.

“Stevie.”

“That accent isn’t from around here,” he smirked a little, and she didn’t know why she was finding his arrogance somewhat attractive.

“Texas.”

“I would never have guessed,” he laughed, causing her to smile despite herself,  
“I’m just from across the pond. New Jersey.”

“I guess we all have our problems.”

She couldn’t help herself from letting that little insult out, but all he did was throw his head back and laugh.

“I guess we do. Can I buy you a drink?”

Her brain was telling her to say no, that her mother didn’t raise a fool, but it felt so nice to be talking and laughing with someone, so she found herself nodding her head at his offer.

In that small bar they knocked back beers and talked about books. In the bar one street away, they moved onto spirits and discussed movies. And on the walk towards her apartment, swaying and hiccupping from too much alcohol, they moved onto music.

“I used to be in a band,” Stevie admitted bashfully, wondering why his opinion of it even mattered to her.

“Oh, I can see that,” he teased.

“Really?”

“Let me guess,” he looked down at her, his medium height towering over her tiny 5ft 2 frame,  
“You look sweet and innocent but you’re a fire cracker, I bet you’re pint-sized fury,” he playfully nudged her shoulder with his,  
“I’d bet any money you were the bassist.”

Stevie couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter, stopping in her tracks.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Oh yeah,” he nodded, pulling a face that said _you scream it, girl,_  
“I used to be in a band myself.”

“Now, let me guess,” she tapped her chin with her index in mock thought,  
“You’re cocky and arrogant, so I’m going to say the lead guitarist.”

“Wrong you are,” he let out another contagious laugh,  
“I was the singer.”

“Really? But-“ she cut herself off, aware of the fact that sometimes alcohol could make her obnoxious.

“But what?” he egged her on, arching an eyebrow.

“You don't seem to have the...charisma,” Stevie finished.

Gerard threw his hand up to his chest and let his jaw go slack.

“Oh, Miss Stevie,” he put on a southern drawl,  
“How you wound me.”

All she could do was roll her eyes as he laughed, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She said nothing as he stared at her softly for a few seconds before taking a step towards her. His lips dropped down on to hers, and she let him kiss her, tilting her head slightly and letting their mouths mesh together. In that moment, it didn’t feel like they were standing in the middle of the street, plenty of people able to see them. His hands wandered down to her ass, cupping gently before pressing her body closer to his. She could feel him stiff against her lower stomach as he kissed her more passionately.  
He pulled away slightly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“My flat is just around the corner,” he spoke lowly, intertwining his fingers with hers.

“So, I won’t have to worry about you walking home,” she smirked up at him before taking a step back.

She turned her face to the road and hailed a taxi, and thankfully one pulled up beside her quickly. Gerard opened the door for her and leaned his elbow on the top of it as she got in.

“Can I at least get your number, Miss Stevie?” he smirked once again, but it was softer this time.

Stevie reached out and clasped the door handle, pulling it gently out from under his weight.

“Thanks for a great night, Gerard,” she closed the door over and gave the driver her address.

He pulled off and she nibbled on her lower lip, unable to stop herself from looking back over her shoulder as the cab drove down the road.  
Gerard still stood on the side of the road, hands in his pockets, watching the car drive off.

Stevie couldn’t help but smile.


	2. You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

The short cab journey home was enough to sober Stevie up, and by the time she got through her front door all she wanted to do now was have a shower and go to bed. She let herself into her apartment and grimaced when she heard the springs of her roommate's mattress squeaking at a steady rhythm. None of her friends had moved out of state for college, so she had no choice but to move in with a complete stranger. Kari was a pleasant enough girl, a couple of years older that Stevie, but already in the two days since she had moved in there had been two different men staying the night. Stevie wasn't a prude, but she couldn't help but lock her bedroom door every night, uncomfortable with the thought of strange men roaming the apartment.

She stripped down in the bathroom and had a quick shower before lying on her bed, her eyes feeling tired but her mind racing a mile a minute. She was used to there being pure silence outside of her bedroom window in her country home, not so much as a street lamp shining in through her window. Here, the city didn't sleep. She wanted to phone her mother, just for a little bit of comfort, but she knew what the response would be; what did you expect?

She jumped when there was a light knock on her bedroom door, contemplated not answering it, when there was another rap.

"Stevie? Are you up?" Kari's voice drifted through the wood.

Stevie frowned as she got up and unlocked the door.

"Is everything okay?"

"Sure it is, cowgirl," she winked a dark eye at her,

"I was just going to put some pasta on, would you like some?"

"Oh, I don't want to intrude on anything," she answered, darting her eyes over to Kari's closed bedroom door.

Kari laughed, showing all of her perfectly white teeth.

"Don't worry, he's gone. It's just us two."

Eliza shrugged one shoulder as she stepped out into the sitting room and closed her door behind her.

"You were home late," Kari commented as she started to cook the food.

"I went for a couple of drinks."

"By yourself?" she threw the comment over her shoulder, still working over the stove.

"I initially went for one, but then I got talking to someone."

"A boy?"

Stevie could hear the laughter in Kari's voice.

"Did anything happen there?"

"No," Stevie laughed, shocked slightly by how forward Kari was,

"We just drank, talked a little, and then I went home when he asked me back to his place. For all I know he wanted to chop me up into little pieces and store me in his freezer for a while. I don't hook up with strangers."

She said the last bit without thinking, and could feel her cheeks warming with embarrassment as Kari turned to face her.

"Oh, relax," Kari, swatted away the invisible words in the air,

"I never go home with strangers, it's always my place I bring them. At least that way I'm free to throw them out whenever I'm done."

They ate their pasta in silence, Stevie's thoughts drifting back to Gerard.

"Why didn't you bring him back here?"

Stevie looked up from her food, thrown off by the question for a second, before she cleared her throat.

"He really wasn't my type. He seemed nice enough, but he was a bit..." Stevie trailed off as she struggled to find the right word,

"I prefer guys with a bit more of an edge."

"He didn't have an edge?" Kari's brows raised high up on her forehead,

"I thought you said he could have cut you into pieces and left you in his freezer?"

**++++++++++++++++++++**

The first day of college dragged for Stevie, and come her last class all she wanted to do was go home and sleep. She was studying Spanish with politics, and she was starting to think that maybe back in Fort Worth she was a big fish in a small pond. She always excelled in languages and was the top of her class back in high school, but as she sat in her first Spanish lecture she couldn't help but panic when she could barely understand what her professor was saying, yet people around her were nodding as if they understood every single word. She was doing an English elective as part of her course, and she was confident that this would be the one class that she would definitely love; she had always been an avid reader.

Walking into the old lecture hall, she scanned the room for the one friend she had managed to make that day, Toby. She spotted him in the middle row and quickly sat down beside him.

"I'm happy to see you're as drained as I am."

"Don't take pleasure from my misery," she joked, offering him a roll of her eyes.

The class fell silent as the professor walked in, writing his name on the board. Stevie stared at the back of his head as she opened up her course book, excited to start the class.

"I'm Professor Way, but please call me Gerard," he addressed the class.

Stevie's stomach dropped and all she could do was swallow convulsively.

_You have got to be kidding me._

"I'm going to do a quick roll call, just to put faces to the names. Sarah Adams?"

He started the roll, looking at each person for a few seconds when they responded.

"And lastly, Stephanie Stirling....Stephanie?" his eyes scanned the class.

"It's Stevie."

It took her a few seconds to realise that it was her who had said that, and she just about forced herself to meet his gaze. To anyone else, his expression was neutral, looking up at her from under his eyelashes, but, to her dismay, she could read his thoughts crystal clear; she knew there was only one thing on his mind right then.

_Fuck..._


	3. Chapter 3

She knew he had only stared up at her for five seconds at the most, but for her it felt like an eternity. Without any other form of acknowledgement, Gerard handed a stack of papers to a girl in the front row and asked for them to be passed around.

"This is the reading list for this semester, and I expect everything to be read by your winter exams. On the back of the page there's a separate list of novels for those of you who are interested to read them in your own time. I appreciate some of you are here just to make up credit, so don't worry about hurting my feelings by ignoring them."

This earned a light chuckle from the class, but all Stevie could do was focus on her breathing, nerves starting to get the better of her. Her hands trembled throughout the fifty minute class, her notes looking like nothing more than chicken scrawl as a result. Finally, class ended and she quickly packed up her things, not throwing a glance in Gerard's direction as she left, even though every fibre in her wanted to. Stevie power walked the fifteen minute journey home and quickly closed the front door behind her. Leaning her back against it, she slowly exhaled a breath she felt like she had been holding in the past hour. Kari was stirring a pot over the stove and took a double take of Stevie over her shoulder.

"Everything alright, Lone Ranger?" she turned down the heat and sat at the table.

Stevie threw her rucksack on the sofa and slipped out of her jacket as she walked towards her, hanging it on the back of her chair before she sat down. Over the past few days Kari took it upon herself to treat Stevie like a little sister, and Stevie wasn't complaining. It was nice feeling like someone had her back when she was in a city she wasn't familiar with, with no friends or family close by.

"Remember that guy I met last week?" she started, nervously chewing on the side of her thumb.

"Yeah?" Kari arched an eyebrow, trying to read her flatmate's expression,

"What about him?"

Stevie didn't respond straight away, her heart still thudding heavily in her ribcage. After a few prolonged seconds of silence, Kari probed further.

"Is he giving you trouble?"

"No, God no," Stevie breathed,

"But you can't tell anyone this."

"Okay," Kari responded slowly.

"Really, you can't, Kari."

"Christ, is he married or something?"

"Fuck if I know," Stevie shrugged,

"But...he's my English professor."

Kari's eyebrow arched as she smirked, hearing the word _professor_ and automatically picturing Einstein.

"What?" she choked out a laugh,

"Which one?"

"Professor Way. Gerard."

Kari wracked her brain, having taken English for extra credit in her first year of college, and when she finally could put a face to the name, she let out a bark of laughter.

"You could have done worse there," she started as she stood up and went back to the stove,

"He's not my cup of tea but I can see the attraction. And I'm pretty sure he's not married, so no need to panic."

"That's not the main thing I'm worried about. It goes against the school's ethics, if anyone found out I could be expelled, or him fired."

"Okay, you need to chill the fuck out. You didn't know he was going to be your professor, and he didn't know you were going to be his student. Did he try anything with you today?"

"No, he looked as horrified as I was."

"Then relax. It was a once off thing, a faux pas."

"A faux pas?" Stevie cocked her eyebrow in return.

"A faux pas."

**+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**

She had his class on a Monday and a Thursday, and felt fine about the situation until that Thursday afternoon class came around. Anytime he made eye contact with her her knees would practically knock together under the table, her throat feel like it was about to start convulsing. As class ended and all the students trickled out of the lecture hall, he called her name and beckoned her over to him. Toby threw a confused look her direction and all she could offer him was a lazy shrug. She nervously gripped the straps of her rucksack as they watched the last of the students leave. When he was certain that the doors were closed, Gerard turned to face her.

"You never told me you were a student here."

She was slightly taken aback by his statement, figuring that neither of them would ever mention that brief night again.

"You never told me you were a professor," she retorted, causing him to arch an eyebrow.

"Stevie...what happened that night...it can't get out."

She stared blankly at him, not quite knowing how to respond. Did he think she'd be trouble, wanting something more now even though she was the one to leave him high and dry at the end of that night?

"I mean, it's bad enough that you're one of my students, but because you were in a bar that night...I assumed you were at least twenty one. What age are you even?"

"Eighteen," she replied softly, feeling young and silly and childish.

"Jesus," he swore under his breath, roughly running a hand through his messy black hair.

Stevie could feel her eyes narrowing as she took the sight of him in before her. Only a week ago he had thought she was the bees knees, not feeling the need to question her age.

_Fuck this._

"Look, Gerard," she started, taking a step back from him,

"This doesn't look good on my behalf either, so I was just planning on never mentioning it again. You didn't know I was a student, I didn't know you were going to be my professor, so let's just...forget about it. It was a faux pas," she recycled the conversation she had had with Kari.

His eyebrows raised so high they disappeared under the flop of black hair over his forehead.

"A faux pas?"

"Yeah," she shrugged nonchalantly, acting as if she hadn't been freaking out about it only a few nights ago,

"No biggie."

"No biggie?" he repeated slowly, almost as if he couldn't fully understand what she was saying.

Stevie sighed as she looked down at her watch; she had to be in another class soon.

"Gerard, I promise, I won't breathe a word of it to anyone. It was just a mistake."

He held her gaze for a solid minute before his features softened and he offered her a gentle smile.

"Thanks."

They continued to stand awkwardly in front of other another before Stevie took a couple of steps backwards and then turned her back to him, leaving the lecture theatre.

"What was all that about?" Toby asked.

He had been waiting for her outside the building and walked with her towards their next lecture.

"He just wanted to talk over the extra reading list," she lied easily, shocking herself,

"He said I seemed interested in class."

"Ooooh, teacher's pet," he playfully nudged her shoulder.

Stevie just about forced a nervous laugh out, happy to have reached the next lecture so she didn't need to talk about it anymore.

If only he knew.


End file.
